Part 2 – Exercise 6: Exploring Drawing And Painting

For this exercise I had to collect lots of different coloured and textured papers then collect these together using something like a bull-dog clip or use a binder. Then I had to collect a variety of drawing implements that I would not normally use, such as felt tip pens, charcoal, inks, food dye, ballpoint pens and so on. I had to choose an object, we were given examples of things such as a cake or shoe. I chose an ice cream.  Then we were told to draw this object on each of the different sheets and using different materials for each sheet. We had to explore different textures and ways of using these materials and then make a note of  which things worked and which didn’t and also the techniques we tried.

Below are some of the pages from the sketch book I put together and details of materials and techniques used.

Colored pencils on rough textured pink card.

I first tried using the coloured pencils normally. This seemed to work ok. I then did a larger image which I experimented with cross hatching, this didn’t seem to work aswell as I thought  it seemed to lack depth and colour.  I don’t think the texture of the card helped as it was quite hard to work on . I then made an even larger image to experiment with single stripes. I pressed down hard with the color pencils to make sure I got enough colour. I quite liked this.  I attempted to smudge the last image (bottom right) with my finger but colour pencil does not smudge well. I don’t think I am a fan of working in colored pencil, and definitely not on this card.

Ink On Heavy Duty watercolour Paper

I really loved working with ink and wish now that I had experimented more with it. I shall do this throughout other projects. First I drew a quick sketch of an ice cream (Left) in sepia ink then let it dry. I then went over this water to see what kind of effect this would give. It gave almost the same effect as watercolour paints. I then let this dry and decided to experiment with using white spirit  dotted on to it. This made the ink turn a vibrant rusty orange and gave the appearance that there were small dots dotted everywhere that  I had applied it. I would use this again as I really liked it and thought it was interesting. I then made another quick sketch (Right) and experimented with cross hatching, this proved rather difficult on watercolour paper as the ink ran and smudged. I would use the ink and white spirit again but not on this kind of paper. Saying that though, the white spirit may not take to ordinary paper.

Pastels On Purple Sugar paper

I thought this paper was awful to work on especially with coloured pastels. I  first experimented with cross hatching, but I noticed the pastels breaking up and smudging everywhere, even when I wasnt ready to smudge it. I then tried purposely smudging the pastels in  with my finger (Right) This worked ok as it was really easy to smudge on this kind of paper. The paper was very rough And although it worked well with smudging I don’t think it worked well to do much else with pastels.

Felt Tips On Shiny White Paper

I really enjoyed using the felt tip pens. I thought the pens worked well on the shiny surface and went on very smoothly. The downfall I did notice though was that the paper took the colour from the pens and they became less vibrant once they had dried. I experimented with cross hatching and I think that felt tip pens work well for this technique. I experimented with stippling. I didn’t think this worked as well because it didn’t matter how much pressure I applied, the dots still came out the same.  I also experimented with adding water, which didn’t go to well as it lost the image completely.  I never thought I would say this but I would use felt tip pens again…….who said they were  for kids.

4H Pencil On Pink cartridge Paper

I don’t normally tend to use H pencils as I am more a fan of the softer pencils so I thought I would experiment with one. I experimented with cross hatching, stippling and smudging. The cross hatching seemed to work ok , however the stippling and the smudging didn’t go as well as I thought it might. I found it difficult to smudge and also couldn’t really get different textures from this. I am not sure whether this would be different if I  had used sugar paper or perhaps water-colour paper.

Coloured Chalk On Blue Plastic packaging

I enjoyed using the chalk, But it really didn’t work well with the plastic  material. I couldn’t smudge the chalk which I still thought would be easy to do and I also found it difficult to actually apply to the plastic. The colour was also overpowering and the chalk  was rather lost somewhat. I experimented with cross hatching and tried using water to smudge the chalk but both these techniques didn’t really achieve anything.

Ballpoint Pen On Newspaper

I have experimented with cross hatching, stippling, smudging and using water. I found the ballpoint pen quite easy to use actually and I thought it worked well on the newspaper material. It reminded me of doodling as a child. A couple of down falls were apparent though and this was firstly that the paper didn’t mix well with water, it completely soaked the paper so much that I had to start again. Also the print was way to dark so I found it hard to see the image I was drawing. However I still did enjoy using these materials together. I think that cross hatching worked the best.

Emulsion Paint On Card board.

I found this very hard to use,  no matter what I tried it just came out a mess. I experimented with dry brush work and it was a disaster. I would not use this again, it dried far too quickly on the card and was hard to control. I think emulsion is best left to be put on walls.

Water Colour Pencils On tracing paper.

Firstly I experimented just using the water-colour pencils normally, I found that the tracing paper didn’t really show of the colour too well and also it didn’t hold the water well which resulted in the water running of the paper. I tried some cross hatching but I didn’t think this worked well, especially once I had added the water. I tried smudging and also splattering the water but nothing really happened.

Final Thoughts

This was an interesting exercise. It made me  aware of the materials I use and the importance of experimenting with them and  using different techniques. I have found some good techniques and materials I would use again from doing this exercise aswell as a lot I would most definitely stay clear of.  I think that the image that I picked was very simplistic, which at first is what I wanted as I knew I was only sketching to experiment, but now looking back I think I should have added more detail or chosen a more detailed complicated image just to see how this would work with the techniques used. In all this was an interesting exercise and I learnt a lot.

---